School vouchers run counter to American tradition

By Colleen Wilcox, Ph.D.

Posted:
06/20/2007 01:31:47 AM PDT

Updated:
06/20/2007 01:31:50 AM PDT

It is nothing new for the public education system to be under scrutiny. The public school system takes the largest share of the California state budget. And it's an institution that plays a profound role in the future of our children.

So it's entirely fitting that our schools be subject to constant examination and deliberation over how to make them better. But today, as perhaps never before, our public schools are being subjected to undermining forces. Lawmakers currently are in the process of reauthorizing the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Under the guise of reform, some want to make school vouchers a part of the reauthorized act.

As the president of the Horace Mann League of America, I am more conscious than ever of efforts to blur the lines of separation in our schools between church and state. I worry that these efforts will adversely affect not only the public schools, but also the democratic sensibilities on which our nation was built.

This is what's afoot:

Earlier this year, President Bush announced a plan to give students at certain struggling schools vouchers worth about $4,000 each to attend private schools.

In March, a bill mirroring Bush's plan was introduced by U.S. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. McKeon is the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee.

Earlier this month, Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani expressed his support for school vouchers.

Meanwhile, proposals for state voucher programs have been springing up across the country, from New Jersey to Arizona.

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Georgia's governor just signed a voucher bill into law; on Nov. 6, Utah will hold a referendum on a wide-ranging voucher program.

These trends run counter to the spirit of public education in the United States.

The Horace Mann League is dedicated to the ideas of the 19th-century educator known as "the father of American education." Mann viewed access to good public schools as the birthright of all American children, no matter what their social status. He also gained renown - and not a little resentment - as a strong advocate of non-sectarian education.

Public schools, Mann believed, should help prepare America's students for lives of civic responsibility and financial opportunity. He was instrumental in the creation of a national school system egalitarian in design, and democratic in scope.

It's true that the history of our public schools has seen its share of disappointments. At certain times, in certain places, the system undeniably failed the students. But on the whole, Horace Mann's model has served us well. Some of the greatest careers our nation has seen - in politics, business, the arts, and yes, religion - have arisen out of our public schools.

My objection to the notion of vouchers is twofold. First, to channel taxpayers' money to private, religious schools - of any denomination - is contrary to our fundamental belief in the separation of church and state. Second, especially under a school system like California's, where a school's funding is based on attendance, diverting students into private schools would drain precious dollars away from public schools.

If, like me, you are troubled by problems that exist in our public schools, it is natural to search for solutions. I contend that the solution for schools that are not adequately serving students is to try to improve them, not abandon them.

It was almost 160 years ago that Mann made this statement: "Education, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men."

If I may take the liberty of using our 21st-century sensibilities to tweak the word "men" and make it "all people" instead, Mann's pronouncement is as pertinent today as it ever was.

The key phrase here is that education is "the great equalizer." The Horace Mann League subscribes to the notion that a public school can and should be able to take any child, from any corner of this incredibly diverse country, and equip him or her with the tools necessary to become an active, thriving member of society.

Public education is the great equalizer. Movements toward its privatization will inevitably fracture, and ultimately break apart, the great American ideal of equalization through a public education.